When an interventionist agency is tasked with bridging the development gap the magnitude of which exists in the country’s long-neglected oil-rich region, its activities and mode of operation are bound to be of keen interest to people from that area and beyond. This is perhaps why the Niger Delta Development Commission has recently come under such a close scrutiny by stakeholders.
After a critical evaluation of its performance, in the close to two decades of its existence, the verdict has been that of an unqualified failure. Looking back, many see the 19 years existence of the NDDC as years of failed opportunities, a journey through a path strewn with frivolities, profligacy and brazen theft. So underwhelming has been its performance that it has been difficult to find one area where it could be adjudged to have met the minimum expectations of the communities where it operates.
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has been so unimpressed with the agency’s performance that he has not only called for a probe, but said he was exploring the option of filing a suit against it for delivering substandard jobs in the state. Shocked that he could not identify commensurate evidence of the N20 billion the NDDC claimed to have spent on projects in the state in the last six months, the governor said, “… there must be a judicial enquiry into the activities of the NDDC. People must go to jail for their corrupt act.”
One could not agree more with the governor. Reports indicate that, for the period that N20 billion was said to have been spent in Edo State, N256 billion was released to the agency for its activities across the nine oil producing states. The Edo State Government also claimed that there was an agreement in which the state was supposed to contribute 60 per cent for projects, while the NDDC would provide the remaining 40 per cent. “We opened an account, but they didn’t remit one kobo into it,” Obaseki fumed.
Besides this loud grumble, the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godswill Akpabio, also has reasons to give the commission a piece of his mind. At a recent meeting with the board, he challenged the members to point to “legacy projects” that could be attributed to the agency for which it had amassed a debt of N2 trillion. “How come we don’t have legacy projects to show in the Niger Delta?” the former governor of Akwa Ibom State asked.
The NDDC was created in 2000 as the successor to the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission to, among other things, formulate policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta. It was meant to conceive, plan and implement “projects and programmes for sustainable development of the Niger Delta area in the field of transport, including roads, jetties and waterways, health employment, industrialisation, agriculture and fisheries, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications.” These are indeed an omnibus task that even places the commission in a position of an alternate government.
However, instead of bringing development to the region, the NDDC has become notorious for creating a few billionaires through the award of bogus and phoney contracts that are never meant to be completed. It has become a cesspit of corruption that has continued to deny the people the benefits of its creation. A former Minister, Uguru Usani, gave execution rate for projects at 12 per cent, “with an average completion rate of five years.” An indigene of the Niger Delta and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Itse Sagay, once referred to the NDDC as “the other name for abandoned projects.”
Two years ago, the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, just like Obaseki, vowed to go after the fraudulent contractors that would win contracts, collect practically all the money and walk away without delivering any projects. “We are going to ensure that any contractor that has taken money and abandoned the project is prosecuted; they must be held accountable,” Osinbajo, who was speaking as the acting President, vowed. That vow now sounds like an empty echo from the past. Without the political will to ensure the enforcement of contractual agreements, it has remained a mere platitude.
The NDDC is so inept and corrupt that a former chairman once handed over N800 million to a sorcerer to help him secure his position at the commission. The commission pays a whopping sum of N200 billion to N300 billion on its rented accommodation, while its headquarters, started in its OMPADEC days, remains uncompleted, according to Akpabio.
Once and for all, the government has to show that it is serious about its resolve to go after the faceless contractors who collect money for projects and end up not executing them. Both Osinbajo and Obaseki should make good their threats of prosecuting the contractors; otherwise the criminality would not stop. Rather than cry foul over abandoned projects, the right thing to do is to expose those contractors, most, if not all, of who are from the Niger Delta.
Many are of the view that the commission should be scrapped, but doing so would be too defeatist or even capitulating. The agency was set up for a purpose, it has to be made to achieve that target by strengthening it and ensuring proper supervision by the Presidency and oversight by the National Assembly. Money meant for its operations should be promptly released for it to function efficiently. The NDDC law is due for review to streamline its functions. Efforts should be made to redefine its functions more clearly so that assessing its performance would be easier.
